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Designed with Dlubal Software ... Dlubal Software GmbH Software for Structural and Dynamic Analysis Extension of the Mosque in Mecca The Holy Mosque in Mecca is the most important mosque of Islam and also the biggest in the world. An additional floor is being built in the interior around the main sanc- tuary of the Kaaba. The project's name is "Mataf Extension". It is a reinforced concrete construc- tion with a floor span of 15 m and dimensions of the main beams are h / w = 2.2 m / 3.6 m with a span of 23 m. Supporting Construction Made of Steel Trusses To allow the use of the surfaces below the new floor during con- struction, wide-span steel con- struction supporting girders instead of conventional scaffolding are used to support the shell structure. The beams were designed as spatial trusses and were designed for the weight of the fresh concrete of the main and secondary floor beams. Dimensions of the steel beams are h /w = 3.36 m / 2.45 m with a total length of up to 56 m. They were created and designed by the engi- neering office Mauss using RFEM. A substantial amount of work was due to the changes during the ap- proval and assembly phases which were carried out under enormous time pressure. "When extending the mosque in Mecca, the possibilities of a vivid 3 D visualization of the construction and the results through RFEM were par- ticularly helpful in view of the coop- eration with project partners from different cultures", according to Oliver Mauss from the engineering office Mauss. The following companies participat- ed in the construction: Client GHI Formwork LLC, Dubai, United Arab Emirates www.ghi.ae Main contractor Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) Saudi Arabia www.sbg.com.sa Structural planning Engineering office Mauss Düsseldorf, Germany www.ibmauss.de/1-1-about.html Software Dlubal Software GmbH Tiefenbach, Germany www.dlubal.com View of the construction site of the extension of the mosque in Mecca (Photos: GHI) Model of the supporting construction in RFEM (Screenshot: Dlubal) Supporting construction made of steel trusses
